One Piece: The Celestial Dragons' Self-Cultivation

Page 31

The Temple is gradually approaching the waters near Flevans.

Only then did Blake finally turn his attention to the nautical chart.

"Huh? So Flevance is the name of a city?"

Blake was quite surprised.

All he knew was that Luo was born in Flevans, a town known as the "White Town".

Oh! Now that I think about it, it really is a city.

What surprised him even more was that Spiedamelz was on the same island as Frevans.

Hearing Blake's surprise, Robin rolled her eyes at him:

"As expected, the Celestial Dragons use all their pitiful brain cells on how to torture slaves."

Blake reached out to grab Robin:

"Alright, then I'll give you a good beating, you little slave."

"Oh dear, have the Celestial Dragons become so cruel that they're reducing their retainers to slavery?"

Robin laughed and dodged the question, changing the subject:

“Pionbino is a super-large island, without a unified government, but rather four kingdoms distributed in a fan shape.”

"Your Highness is going to Frevans, which is located in the Kingdom of Luminosa, while Spedamaelz is a port city in the Kingdom of Traquilia."

Blake was completely bewildered, as it reminded him of the story of the princess, the dragon, the warrior, and Wang Haoran.

What and what?

After a moment of thought, Blake finally understood.

This is a super-large island similar to Saint Tin Island, where Alabasta is located, but it is divided into four kingdoms.

The city where Law was born and the city where Doflamingo lives are both on this island, but they belong to different countries.

This also explains why Law, who was only ten years old in the original work, found Doflamingo very quickly after escaping from Flevans.

After figuring out the island's structure, Robin continued to explain:

"A few years ago, the Kingdom of Luminosa experienced a large-scale infectious disease outbreak. Other countries joined forces to close the border, allowing entry but not exit."

"Of course, this shouldn't be a problem for you if you're not afraid of infectious diseases."

Blake patted the fish tank on his head:

"That's the advantage of being a Celestial Dragon! No matter what kind of infectious disease it is, it has no effect on my spacesuit and fish tank!"

"We'll put them on you too, then we'll go in and take a look."

After a pause, Blake gave the order:

“In that case, we can dock the ship directly at the port of Spedamaelz.”

“I am very interested in this fellow clansman who was driven out of the holy land at a young age.”

The Temple slowly entered the port of Spedamaelz.

Even the kings of the member states of the North Blue knew of Black's whereabouts, and the more powerful Don Quixote family naturally knew of the Celestial Dragons' arrival long ago.

Doflamingo squinted at the extremely luxurious Temple, his eyes filled with an unreadable expression.

"Dover, the Celestial Dragons didn't come here this time to take you back, did they?"

Torrepol asked cautiously.

His tone conveyed both his reluctance to part with Doflamingo and his hope that Doflamingo would have a better life.

Doflamingo scoffed.

"Fufufufufu... I have no intention of going back to that suffocating birdcage."

The Temple came to a stop in the harbor, and Blake, sitting on a slave, led Stella and the others off the ship.

Doflamingo was standing at the port, and around him, both the Donquixote Family's executives and the people of the Kingdom of Traqueria were kneeling in a row.

To Black's surprise, the young Doflamingo was not as flamboyant as he was in his prime.

He was already close to his prime age, with an upright posture and an air of untamed pride.

His hair was still his signature gold, with each strand standing upright in a sharp shape, giving him a rebellious look.

His eyes were long and sharp, and his lips were slightly upturned, carrying a faint, wicked smile.

It seemed as if they were plotting some conspiracy at any moment, or as if they were challenging all the rules of the world.

This is a character who is obviously not a good person at first glance.

Black looked around and noticed that Doflamingo didn't have many people around him, and Rosinante wasn't among them either.

He understood; it seemed that Sengoku hadn't yet sent Rosinante back to Doflamingo's side as an undercover agent.

To be honest, this kind of behavior of sending a younger brother to infiltrate his older brother's inner circle is somewhat despicable.

But you know what, Sengoku and Rosinante were both surprisingly bold – one dared to send the order, and the other dared to accept it.

Black drove his slaves to Doflamingo, who looked down at him:

"I've heard a lot about your family, and I've wanted to come and see for myself for a long time. I'm so glad I finally have the chance now."

"Fufufu... It's truly an honor to be remembered by a Celestial Dragon."

Doflamingo gave a fake laugh for a moment, then gestured with his hand, saying:

“Lord Black, please come in and let me welcome you.”

Blake nodded:

"Then trouble you."

Doflamingo was clearly taken aback for a moment, followed by another burst of "fufufu" laughter.

Led by Doflamingo, Black and his companions arrived at the Donquixote Family's residence.

A banquet had been prepared, with Black and Doflamingo sitting opposite each other, while the other members of the Donquixote Family stood quietly to the side.

After eating a little something at Stella's service, Blake started the conversation:

“I remember seeing you in the holy land when I was little.”

"You stole Saint Mark's crown to trade for meat pies."

“I thought you were a restless guy back then.”

Doflamingo also recalled his memories from back then:

"Fufufu... That piece of junk was exchanged for three tons of sea king meat."

"Do you know what I hated most back then?"

He asked and answered himself:

"Those foolish merchants, they actually believed that the crown was a fake."

"咈咈咈咈咈..."

Blake smiled as well, and held a piece of cod fillet to Stella's mouth.

A glint flashed in Doflamingo's eyes:

"Is this how the Celestial Dragons behave these days? No wonder the World Government is becoming more and more like expired champagne."

This statement was clearly a test he made after seeing Blake's attitude towards Stella; it was a way to both attack and defend.

If Blake disregards the sarcasm in his words, he can roughly deduce Blake's personality and consider how to interact with him in the future.

Even if Black shows dissatisfaction, Doflamingo has a way to brush it off.

Upon hearing this, Blake paused in his eating for a moment, then resumed his normal eating.

He took out a silk handkerchief, wiped his mouth, and handed it to Stella.

Black looked at Doflamingo with a half-smile on his face:

"Dover, you look like a kid who just had his cotton candy stolen."

Doflamingo's smile froze.

After a moment, he shrugged:

"There's nothing I can do. While you guys were having afternoon tea in the garden wearing bubble headgear, I was already fighting for food with those wild dogs in the North Sea."

"Indeed, Huo Minggu's decision at the time was somewhat ill-considered."

Black nodded in agreement, ignoring Doflamingo's increasingly grim expression, and continued:

"In my opinion, the tragedy of your family was caused by Huo Minggu."

"He was an idealist who was naive and ignorant of the ways of the world."

"But to be fair, he can die, but he shouldn't die at your hands."

Chapter 43 Robin's New Dress

Homingo is also one of the characters in the original work that Blake dislikes.

Black's dislike for him was not because he gave up his status as a Celestial Dragon to become a commoner.

Rather, it was because he failed to make proper prior plans and psychological preparations, lacked a strategy to deal with risks, failed to make a basic assessment of the situation, and lacked a clear understanding of himself...

In a moment of impulsiveness, he took his entire family and left Mary Geoise without any way out.

If he could complete the path he chose on his knees, then Blake could still call him a real man.

However, Huo Minggu could not persevere for more than two years.

He appealed to Mary Geoise for help and hoped to return to the Holy Land.

Let alone world nobles like the Celestial Dragons, even chat groups aren't something you can just leave or add back as you please.

In short, Blake's dislike for Homingu stemmed from two points.

First, he courted death and dragged his whole family down with him; second, he chose to court death but then regretted it.

Doflamingo's decision to shoot and kill Homingo was indeed a bit too much.

But from his perspective, it's normal to feel hatred towards his father.

Imagine your grandfather was once the world's richest man, but your father wanted to experience the life of an ordinary person, so he donated all his assets, leaving nothing behind.

Then they took you, who was not yet an adult, along with your mother and younger brother, to a construction site to move bricks.

Not only will you be forced to do endless manual labor, but other workers will also beat your family.

Even her mother died because of it.

Thinking about it this way, doesn't it seem perfectly normal for Doflamingo to have thoughts of destroying the world?

Doflamingo fell silent after hearing Black's opinion on the matter.

He was too young at the time and thought it was all his father's fault.

He naively believed that once his father was gone, he and his brother could return to Mary Geoise and their former life.

Black wasn't there to attack Doflamingo; he asked about something he was quite curious about:

"I heard you know about the national treasure?"

These words instantly pulled Doflamingo from his past thoughts, and a wicked smile reappeared on his face:

"Fufufufufu...Do you want that thing too?"

Blake shook his head:

"Just a little curious."

"I'm curious about many secrets, like the Poneglyphs, like Laugh Tale..."

"If you know it, consider it satisfying your curiosity; if you don't know it, there's no need to deliberately look for it."

"You are open-minded."

Doflamingo sighed: